China deploys ships to help Vietnam find missing coastguard plane
Aircraft went down in sea between Vietnam’s coast and Hainan Island on Thursday
China sent ships on Friday in response to a request from Vietnam to help find a coastguard plane that crashed with nine personnel aboard while looking for a missing fighter jet and pilot, Vietnam’s defence ministry said.
The CASA turboprop plane went down on Thursday in the Gulf of Tonkin, between Vietnam’s northern coastline and China’s Hainan Island, where the rescue team had found some debris and personal items, the ministry said in a statement.
The Airbus-made plane was searching for a Sukhoi SU-30 MK2 fighter jet and a missing pilot that went off radar on Tuesday. One of the two fighter pilots was rescued from the sea the following day.
Thousands of Vietnamese coastguard, border guard, navy, air force and fishermen have been searching for the aircraft and the second pilot.
China sent one rescue and two coastguard boats to help search for the CASA plane in response to Vietnam’s request for assistance and to allow its vessels to enter the Chinese side of a maritime boundary agreed between the two countries. The coastguard plane went down in bad weather and low visibility.